Linux Top 3: Saucy, Trusty and Open Virtualization

October 21, 2013

By
Sean Michael Kerner

1) Ubuntu Saucy Salamander Released

This past week marked the official release of Ubuntu 13.10, aka the 'Saucy Salamander'. The Saucy release is seen by Canonical as being a milestone step on the road toward having a converged desktop/server/cloud and mobile operating system platform.

"Ubuntu 13.10 introduces the first release of Ubuntu for phones and Ubuntu Core for the new 64-bit ARM systems (the "arm64" architecture, also known as AArch64 or ARMv8), and improved AppArmor confinement," the Ubuntu 13.10 release announcement states. "In addition to these flagship features there are also major updates throughout."

2) Ubuntu Names 14.04 Trusty Tahr

Mark Shuttleworth has long taken great pleasure in attaching colorful names to his pet project known as Ubuntu Linux and the upcoming 14.04 release is no exception.

The 14.04 release will be a Long Term Support (LTS) release and it is expected to be the major milestone where desktop/cloud/server/mobile all converge. In announcing the name for 14.04, Shuttleworth also took time to praise contributors and ridicule those that try to seed controversy.

"When lots of competitors attack a project on purely political grounds, you have to wonder what THEIR agenda is," Shuttleworth wrote. "At least we know now who belongs to the Open Source Tea Party"

So our titular totem, our tamper-proof taboo, our tranquil memento of mission and dues, our topical target of both cry and hue, the name for our LTS thoughtful and true: I give you, as Seuss would, with hullabaloo, the temperate and thrifty, the talented and tactful but ultimately, and tellingly, trusty tahr.

The tahr navigates Himalayan heights, shaggily suited, sure-footed and steady. A small tourist tahr population lived on my favourite Table Mountain, and while they’ve made way for indigenous animals, for a long time they symbolised hardiness and fearlessness, perched as they were against the cliffs.

3) Linux Foundation Adds Open Virutalization Collaboration Project

The Open Virtualization Alliance, which is a group dedicated to advancing the state of KVM virtualization is being folded into a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project.

"While hosting code and providing open source governance best practices is a big part of what we offer, we’re also happy to provide guidance to organizations that want to reduce operating costs, maximize promotional reach and increase participation among diverse stakeholders," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation in a statement. "The Open Virtualization Alliance is a natural addition to our Collaborative Projects and we’re very happy to support all virtualization technologies that help advance Linux."

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at LinuxPlanet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist